Comments on: 10 Ways to Find a Good Therapist

By: hyperballad

hyperballad — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:00:42 +0000

Ask your accountant? Are you for real? WTF would an accountant know and why would I want to ask them that. It would be totally awkward.

I think a big issue you forgot to mention is the approach a therapist takes and how that meets your needs. I don’t know about the US, but here in Australia there are associations for different branches os psychotherapy.

By: DrJWB

DrJWB — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:31:00 +0000

Good thoughts, Dr. Aletta. I’ve been advertising with Psychology Today since its inception. It is a good resource for sure– one of the first out there to offer profiles for the public’s perusal of various therapist and psychologists. Only problem i have with them is that they were “overly-inclusive”– there are so many names in their directory now that there that it no longer serves as a referral source for me. Just not the best value from an advertiser’s point of view, but still good for the consumer, since there are so many profiles to review.

By: Leanne Watt, Ph.D.

Leanne Watt, Ph.D. — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:53:14 +0000

Thank you for the very thoughtful and helpful article on finding a good therapist. Your inclusion of the Skype/phone option was a wise one, especially for patients in rural areas or living abroad. As a clinical psychologist in Pasadena, CA, I’ve tried to help a few patients find therapy referrals for family members living in small cities. It’s been very difficult to find good clinicians for those people who are living outside of large cities– Skype/phone tx is a wonderful alternative in those cases.

Another thought when looking for a good therapist– for those with a limited budget needing a more intensive type of psychotherapy, contact a local psychoanalytic institute (if you live in a big city). Many institutes offer lower fee “psychodynamic” or “psychoanalytic” style therapy with skilled and often very seasoned clinicians. For those who have grown suspicious of long-term and intensive psychotherapy, there is a great article that details all the empirical (research) evidence supporting the benefits of psychodynamic psychotherapy. In fact, several studies suggest that this type of therapy has longer-lasting positive effects than cognitive behavioral therapy. Unfortunately, the research highlighting the benefits of psychodynamic treatment is not very widely disseminated, and there is a definite push towards shorter-term treatments by the insurance companies, even though certain conditions (chronic anxiety & depressions complicated by personality disorders) respond more positively to the psychodynamic approach to treatment. Here’s a link to this study: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-65-2-shedler.pdf

By: bitz

bitz — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:06:25 +0000

Great article. Thanks for addressing this issue with such care. I think it’s critical that you meet with several (at least 3) clinicians before you plant yourself in the treatment. Also a very interesting point made by Bonnie B. in response to your article– the issue of “trusting your intuition” is a complicated one, clinically speaking. Certainly, you want to be sure you feel safe with the therapist you decide to work with, but sometimes, therapists that make you a little uncomfortable (in the right way) are doing the deeper work– that work that makes you have to stretch and grow. Sometimes, you might even have to feel worse in order to
feel better.

By: MFT

MFT — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:01:28 +0000

For those seeking Group Therapy, a great resource to check is FindGroupTherapy.Com (www.findgrouptherapy.com) – a large directory site of therapy groups nationwide. Mental Health Professionals are encouraged to add their group listings.

By: psychinflorida

psychinflorida — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:09:49 +0000

Psychology Today has some “therapist” listed who are not licensed in their state but are “pastoral or spiritual counselors”. They often say they are licensed because they join a pseudo-professional group that calls their membership a “license”. This is not state licensure and is and to make them look legitimate. While most of psychology today appear to be properly licensed, there are some who are not trained and practicing illegally.

By: Therapy Revolution | Psych Central

Therapy Revolution | Psych Central — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:57:15 +0000

[...] your particular problem. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how to find a good therapist. And you have no idea of where to even [...]

By: freefallen

freefallen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:00:05 +0000

It’s a shame but we tend to put more thought into finding the right car to buy than finding the right therapist to go to.
Finding a good therapist is often done by word of mouth or through ones Primary Care Physician. Then you have to interview them and decide if you might be able to work with the therapist. If you don’t feel it is a good fit, leave and don’t look back. You don’t have to stay, your not obligated. Shop around. Phone Books and the Internet are ways to advertise but it doesn’t mean you know what (who) you are getting. Be careful of the therapist who is an expert in everything.

There are many types of therapists and therapies.
Some Psychiatrists only prescribe medications (medication management)and only spend about 15 – 20 minutes with you after your initial consultation. They may or may not take insurance and can be very expensive.
Some Psychiatrists provide both medication management and therapy. They offer both an expertise in medicine and mental health but may not take insurance and can be very expensive and are not necessarily any better than other therapists. You don’t always get what you pay for no matter what Freud said
Some Mental Health Psychiatric Nurse work with Psychiatrist and only provide medication management but many also combine both strong medical and mental health knowledge to provide both medication management and therapy. They usually accept insurance.
Psychologists, PsyD’s, Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Certified Counselors have a stong background in Mental health. They provide therapy but with the exception of a few Psychologist, they do not have the medial knowledge and are not licensed to prescribe medicatioin. They will refer you to another provider for medication management. Most of these therapist accept insurance.
Credentials are important but so is experience. No matter who you choose to see for therapy, it is imperative that you feel comfortable enough with the person to develop a strong therapeutic alliance /relationship. It is in that alliance /relationship that you can begin to heal. You must be able to trust and feel safe with your therapist. Bottom line is your mental health. If you don’t feel you are getting better with your therapist….don’t wait 2 or 3 years to change. Move on.
Hope this is helpful in some way.

By: fastrabbit

fastrabbit — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:08:50 +0000

a good therapist must be unbiased and with no religious affiliation–prefer an athiest or agnostic person and be very logical in thinking.

I’m totally unbiased and freethinking and gay. Also a male therapist who’s gay would be more understanding.

a female therapist is too maternalistic in thinking. A gay male point of view is helpful.

Thankyou,

Fastrabbit

By: Carole

Carole — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:33:36 +0000

My first choice in finding a good therapist/psychologist would be to ask which ones work well with my psychiatrist. Since it is important to build a “team” for your support system, finding professionals that work well together is a key factor. After getting some names, I would check to see that they were covered by insurance and then make an appointment with one of them… and continue down the list until I found one that I could work well with.

By: Mark Rogers

Mark Rogers — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:26:28 +0000

For those without insurance, try calling your local community mental health agency. Local crisis centers can provide leads for people. Word-of-mouth advertising is reliable. Asking other personally known professionals (dentist, family doctor) or a priest, rabbi or minister can be helpful. If the counselor can provide the initial assessment free-of-charge, it can be at that time when the decision to continue or not is made.

By: D.E. Hill

D.E. Hill — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:14:09 +0000

Go through your list such as from your EAP provider or insurance. Start making phone calls. If you find a some relatively hard to make an appointment with such as 6,8 weeks out make an appointment with one of them. However, if you find they can see you next week or 2 or 3 weeks, then you might avoid those!

By: Paper Roses

Paper Roses — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:07:12 +0000

Another excellent way of finding a good therapist:

If you have found a book to be particularly helpful, such a a book on marriage or self-esteem. The book may have mentioned a type or style of therapy used by or recommended by the author, such as cognitive therapy or emotionally focused couple therapy or imago therapy.

You can look these up on the inter-net and often find a link to therapists in the area who use these methods.

You can simply type the name of the author or book and he or she may have a website with links for therapists that have studied their treatment style.

By: Elvira G. Aletta, Ph.D.

Elvira G. Aletta, Ph.D. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:28:29 +0000

Thanks so much for all your comments. Just to be clear, I only meant this article to be about collecting a few names of potential therapists, the first step in the process. The next steps are about narrowing down the field, making the initial appointment and finally, assessing whether or not the they are a good fit for you going forward.

All additions to finding a good therapist are greatly appreciated. Everyone makes good points.

Bo, I did mention that Psychology Today in used by PsychCentral, although not explicitly. I said “this website.” I appreciate what you say about craigslist. My caveat has to do with many unqualified people advertising services there which may be difficult for a lot of people to navigate.

Cross referencing, not just using one source, as suggested by several commenters is a very good idea.

By: MostlyHarmless

MostlyHarmless — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:42:24 +0000

For those fortunate to have insurance and are in a market with many treatment options: May I suggest my approach to at least narrowing down which therapists to consider: On y our insurance website, Print out a hard copy of ALL therapists within a certain radius of your zip code- 100, 200 of them is a good size – alphabetical is the best format. Then print out a “preferred list” and compare the two…I used bios printed out from PT.
The PT list great for first, finding therapists with the wrong specialties and crossing them off! From there – I had several dozen bios of those interested in my needs. Cross check to see who is on your inrurance list. Remember that insurance lists can be incomplete, so if you really like someone – call then first and ask them directly, (Same goes for double checking the insurance thing with all other therps you contact.) Anyway, you will wind up with a decent-sized list of interesting therapists who also take your insurance plan. Then dedice on an order to contact them – closest first? MSWs first?
Then, the most important work: call to see who has openings, do the initial phone screening – and whenever you can, initial visit. And ask beforehand to get the initial visit FREE because you are interviewing THEM as the customer, too. And if it is not a match, ask for the names of “2 or 3″ colleagues – a little appreciation went a long way for me in one therapist digging deep on my behalf. And don’t give up.